Dakshinamurti Stotra
{{Short description|Sanskrit hymn & philosophical text}}
{{Infobox religious text|religion=Hinduism|author=Adi Shankara|language=Sanskrit|caption=Sculpture of Dakshinamurti, Tamil Nadu, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery|image=File:Shiva Dakshinamurti, India, Tamil Nadu, 1100s AD, granite - Arthur M. Sackler Gallery - DSC05253.jpg|verses=10|name=Dakshinamurti Stotra}}{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2019}}
{{Use Indian English|date=August 2019}}
{{Italic title}}
The Dakshinamurti Stotra ({{Langx|sa|दक्षिणामूर्तिस्तोत्र|translit=Dakṣiṇāmūrtistotra}}) is a Sanskrit religious hymn (stotra) to Shiva attributed to Adi Shankara.{{Cite book |last=Ganeri |first=Jonardon |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Npg4DwAAQBAJ&dq=Dak%E1%B9%A3i%E1%B9%87%C4%81m%C5%ABrtistotra&pg=PA471 |title=The Oxford Handbook of Indian Philosophy |date=2017-10-12 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-931463-8 |pages=471 |language=en}} It explains the metaphysics of the universe in the frame of the tradition of Advaita Vedanta.
Description
In the Hindu mythology, Dakshinamurti is an incarnation of Shiva, the supreme god of knowledge. Dakshinamurti is an aspect of Shiva as a guru of all types of knowledge, and bestower of jñāna. This aspect of Shiva is his personification as the supreme or the ultimate awareness, understanding, and knowledge.*{{cite book | last =Dallapiccola | first =Anna | year =2002 | title =Dictionary of Hindu Lore and Legend | publisher =National Geographic Books | isbn =978-0-500-51088-9 | url-access =registration | url =https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofhind0000dall }} This form represents Shiva in his aspect as the progenitor of yoga (Adiyogi: the first Yogi), music, and wisdom, and giving exposition on the shastras.
Unlike most of the stotras of Hindu gods, which are in the form of description of anthropomorphic forms, or mythological deeds of those gods, the Dakshinamurti Stotra takes the form of conceptual and philosophical statements.{{Cite book |last1=Theodor |first1=Ithamar |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FfgKAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA36 |title=Brahman and Dao: Comparative Studies of Indian and Chinese Philosophy and Religion |last2=Yao |first2=Zhihua |date=2013-11-07 |publisher=Lexington Books |isbn=978-0-7391-8814-9 |pages=36 |language=en}} Its verses offer a description of the unity of the atma in the midst of the multiplicity of the senses.{{Cite book |last=Rambachan |first=Anantanand |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_LhFBQAAQBAJ&dq=Dak%E1%B9%A3i%E1%B9%87%C4%81m%C5%ABrti-stotra&pg=PA56 |title=A Hindu Theology of Liberation: Not-Two Is Not One |date=2014-11-07 |publisher=SUNY Press |isbn=978-1-4384-5455-9 |pages=56 |language=en}}